Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh earlier this month visited airmen at al Udeid AB, Qatar, and spent time there ?with units supporting operations in the Middle East, according to a release. He toured Air Forces Central Command’s combined air and space operations center, which oversees US air activities in the region, and answered airmen’s questions during an “all call” session. The questions touched on topics like force shaping, budget sequestration, sexual assault, and changes to the enlisted and officer performance reporting processes, states the release. “Never forget how critically important each of you are to the US Air Force,” said Welsh during the Dec. 14 visit. Al Udeid, run by airmen of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, is a hub of US air operations against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. Following the stop at al Udeid, Welsh continued on to meet with airmen at other locations in the region.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.